SUMMER RENTAL (director: Carl Reiner; screenwriter: Jeremy Stevens/Mark Reisman; cinematographer: Ric Waite; editor: Bud Molin; music: Alan Silvestri ; cast: John Candy (Jack Chester), Rip Torn (Scully), Richard Crenna (Al Pellet), Karen Austin (Sandy Chester), Richard Herd (Angus MacLachlan), Kerri Green (Jennifer Chester), Joseph Lawrence (Bobby Chester), Aubrey Jane (Laurie Chester), Lois Hamilton (Vicki), John Laroquette (Don Moore); Runtime: 87; MPAA Rating: PG; producer: George Shapiro ; Paramount Pictures; 1985)
“A slight family vacation comedy.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A slight family vacation comedy. Carl Reiner(“All of Me”/”The Jerk”) directs in a most gentle way, but elicits few laughs. The screenplay by Jeremy Stevens and Mark Reisman is inert.
Jack Chester (John Candy) is the stressed-outair traffic controller taken on a Florida beach vacation by his loving wife (Karen Austin) along with his children (Kerri Green,Joseph Lawrence and Aubrey Jane) and pet dog. The family rents a little beach cottage. But the desired restful vacation turns into a nightmare when the accident-prone patriarch runs his rental boat into the yacht of Captain Al (Richard Crenna), a local champion racer yachtsman. Soon the angry Captain Al inherits the beach house when the former landlord suddenly dies, and he gives the family the boot. Jack thereby challenges Al in the regatta race, a race Al has won the last 9 years, with the stipulation if he wins, he can stay an extra two weeks, rent free, and if he loses, he pays the rent and exits.
Hey, I was on pins and needles wondering who would win the race.
Rip Torn plays Candy’s main ally, a pirate restaurant owner who teaches him how to sail.
REVIEWED ON 5/7/2017 GRADE: C-
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
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